hotfortea wrote:Does anyone have small children that drink herbal teas? I drink about 5 cups of tea per day and I am trying to get my 5 year old to drink tea because of the many health benefits.

Todor

I'd also be cautious of giving small children caffeinated tea. If you're going to give them anything, I'd brew up a very mild, caffeine-free herbal tea.

I don't think you need to focus on or be concerned with the "health benefits of tea" for young children. There are so many more important things...make sure your kids are getting enough fresh fruits and vegetables, enough healthy fats (fatty fish is a great source), and avoiding highly processed foods.

The catechins and other chemicals in tea, like L-theanine, definitely have some positive effects on health, but they're not essential nutrients. Vitamins, minerals, protein, and omega 3 / omega 6 fats ARE essential to the diet.

I think in the long-run, I'd start thinking about exposing your children to different flavors and aromas...include different spices in your meal, starting in small amounts...let the kids smell and taste spices and experiment with them. This will help them develop a taste for bitter, aromatic food and drink, which in the long-run will help them to appreciate tea later, and which will help them avoid falling into the rut of unhealthy processed foods (which tend to be sweet, salty, less bitter, and less aromatic than natural foods).

Some caffeine is ok! I think people are getting scared away from it due to news hype and medical advice from doctors who have patients who are totally getting too much caffeine. They then go to their friends and say 'the doctor told me caffeine was bad'. Since so many Americans drink soda and receive excess caffeine and have other medical issues the idea spread fast.

If your kids eat a healthy diet and are protected from other health hazards then it would make more sense to take tea and not avoid it. Just my thoughts.

My daughter just loves to have tea time with Daddy..and since our tea time IS usually in the evenings on my days off her tea usually consists of an Adagio decaf Green tea blend or a Rooibos blend. She has her own little kyusu and yunomi's to brew her own teas in. its Father Daughter Bonding time since the Wife doesn't have her own teapot like she does...

My relationship with my son is a big part of getting in to tea. We have drunk together for the past 5-6 years. His breadth of tastes are something to see in a young one (from the roughest young sheng to dense yancha and in between.) The only tea he could not stomach was a certain grocery Liu An.

I don't know if Im qualified to chime in here since I don't have kids - HOWEVER - I was raised on black and green tea since I was 3 with no issues..

Well, when I say no issues, I mean no health issues! I did suffer burns to the arm when attempting to make tea with a heavy kettle standing on a chair when I was 5 when no one was around to stop me lucky it didnt scar!

My Mother is the type who would only let me have things like soft drink and things on special occasions (which I'm thankful for now!) but she always said, the small amount of caffeine in a cup of tea is less than that of most soft drinks some parents let their kids have every day plus all the caffeine in chocolate.. I never had any issues with sleeping or hyperactivity from it, but everyone is different!

Yeah I think kids whose parents strictly watch on their food are lucky ones. This world is full of traps now. So far I've organized a few discussions on nutrient labels of food. The outcome of every discussion is, many people get angry - they didn't realize there was so much information hidden away from them. Sometimes, being angry is positive

A friend of mine said it's so hard to maintain normal social life while keeping her 2-year-old away from junk food. People love kids and always want to give them little snacks or candies (few of them are tasty to begin with... and of course unhealthy...) She said by turning away offerings, she had probably been losing friends

This is true, both chocolate and especially soft drinks that people routinely give to their children without a second thought contain caffeine. So why is tea an adult drink? It seems to be some kind of cultural artifact not something based on science. I would feel better about giving a kid a cup of real tea than a glass of coke honestly.

waltersh wrote:My Mother is the type who would only let me have things like soft drink and things on special occasions (which I'm thankful for now!) but she always said, the small amount of caffeine in a cup of tea is less than that of most soft drinks some parents let their kids have every day plus all the caffeine in chocolate.. I never had any issues with sleeping or hyperactivity from it, but everyone is different!

I know this thread is old, but for the sake of posterity I'll say this. My kids love mint tea, and they also like Fairy Tale Tea sold by Mountain Rose Herbs. Occasionally they'll also drink MRH's Peace tea.

It's an old thread but also a timeless question. One shop gave my son some blue-pea herb (tisane) on a visit once, and he loved the idea of having his own tea, even if he sort of didn't really love that tea. Chrysanthemom would seem a better direction to go with that.

My daughter is almost 2 and she loves tea. She never drinks any significant amount of it but loves tasting mine, which I see no problem with, although my wife does. I've asked a couple Chinese people that sell tea and have children about it (as if they automatically know the facts of the matter from being Chinese, right) and it seems less of a big deal to them. One said young children should only drink lighter teas in moderation, that is, not black tea, and not a lot of tea, but to them young means 1 year olds, and for 3 and 4 year olds they can drink what they like. Sounds reasonable.

My daughter turned two in August, and she loves chamomile--in fact, she'll often ask for it specifically. I haven't given her any actual tea yet, but the owner of the tea shop I visit said that green or white tea brewed lightly would be just fine.

My daughters of 4 and 6 love drinking tea, too. They like almost all types of teas. However, I will let them to have little bit by giving it to them with the very cute and small traditional Chinese tea cups. They love teas because of the little cups